Wiz Khalifa Talks Music, Marijuana and More in Interview With Ski Beatz

Wiz Khalifa recently sat down with super producer Ski Beatz for an on-camera interview for UK's SoulCulture TV. The pair, who worked together on Curren$y's 'Scaling The Building' and Ski's debut album, '24 Hour Karate School,' discussed everything from his music to his love of marijuana.

At first, the Pittsburgh rapper doesn't recognize Ski Beatz, but as soon as he does, the interview turns into a catch-up session between two old friends. The producer, who is best known for his work with Jay-Z, asks him about his ideal studio environment, and who his ultimate musical inspirations are.

Khalifa wastes no time in naming the likes of Cam'ron, Wu-Tang and Snoop Dogg. "I always catch a Snoop vibe from you for some reason," Ski says. "Maybe it's the green."

The 'Black and Yellow' rapper makes a more detailed correlation. He explains, "It's the tall skinniness, smoking weediness, smilingness, jokiness. Pimpin'."

As for his affinity for marijuana, which often seeps into his lyrics, Khalifa says, "I'm not influencing people to smoke weed; I'm influencing people to be free." However, that "freedom" led to the rapper's arrest for drug trafficking last fall.

"Those charges have been dropped. Yeah, it's been reduced," Khalifa says. "But the case and everything, that was a no-go. Everybody thought it was more serious than it was."

With his fame, it's no wonder why the hip-hop star has received criticism, but the 23-year-old takes it all in stride. "I just deal with it, man, because at the end of the day, I know who I am as an artist and what I started out to do," he asserts. "If I branch off and do a certain sound, then that's part of who I am, but I'm still this over here, too, and I'm still that over there."

Watch the Ski Beatz Interview Wiz Khalifa for SoulCulture